There was this one time in February 2011 when I got out of my car in LA after a week long drive from the east coast through snow and ice storms and stumbled up the stairs to the apartment and met my sister and niece at the door then collapsed in an armchair, commenting about the salt stains all over my car, and then my sister said, “Hey that’s probably the last time the Knight Bus [my purple Honda] is going to see winter!”

And I responded that she was “probably right, and what a nightmare, but so exhilarating, that trip was! But I’m so glad it’s over and that I have my car back, but you couldn’t pay me to drive it anywhere this weekend, I’m taking the bus to work tomorrow!”

Then, less than 10 months later, my now-husband flew to California and we drove back to our home town together and I’ve lived here in Western New York with him ever since.

It was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

But sometimes, I wonder . . . like, right now, I really miss SoCal and wish there had been some way to convince my husband to move to Burbank, and that we could have found a way to pay for it [pipe-dreams].

So, it started snowing yesterday, and our front walk has been shoveled twice today.

The roads were mostly just wet on the way to and from work, but the occasional slushy patch caught at my “All Season if You Live in South Carolina or Southern California” Tires, and I thought, “Gees, this is only the start.”

While using a broom to swat down the icicles looming over the front stoop (which was lucky because two hours later a neighborhood kid walked under the remnants of them to ask if I’d pay him to shovel), I looked up at the sky and the tree line and thought, “O, isn’t that pretty!” then down at the ground and thought “Fuck this shit, I’m so done with it!”

But as I said, it’s only just begun.

Last year, when I thought I still liked Winter okay, we had temperatures below 0* F for weeks in a row. My dog who LOVES snow and ice more than anything, even eating tissue paper, didn’t want to stay outside longer than it took to pee in the front yard. If we have another winter like 2013-14, I might insist we drive back to the West Coast.

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Kirstin lives in Western New York with her husband, son, and golden retriever. She holds a bachelor's degree in the Performing Arts from Wells College and a certification in Massage & Bodywork Therapy from Greenville Technical College. She enjoys knitting, tea, sewing, coffee, tacos, and occasionally writing about her adventures.